MR. McCLELLAN: All right, good afternoon, everybody. I've got Faryar
Shirzad, our Sherpa for the G8 here with me. He will do a quick summary of
what to expect ahead of us, and then we'll be here for whatever questions
you have.

MR. SHIRZAD: Hi, how are you? We're obviously heading over to the G8
summit that's occurring under the UK's presidency. Prime Minister Blair is
hosting. We're going to start tonight with a social dinner that the
President will have.

There will be a series of meetings tomorrow, beginning with a focus on the
global economy and climate change, in a meeting that will be among the G8
leaders, and then expanded to include participation by the leaders of five
emerging economies -- China, Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico. They
will continue on that topic through lunch. After lunch they'll talk about
a series of regional issues, including the Middle East, and hear a report
from Jim Wolfensohn on the disengagement from Gaza. There will also be an
evening session, a dinner, at which they'll talk about additional regional
issues, as well as North Korea, Iran, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation
and other issues.

On the last day of the summit, on Friday, the morning will be devoted to
the issue of Africa. The G8 leaders will meet among themselves initially,
and then their meeting will be expanded to include I think about eight
African leaders who have been invited to participate. The expanded meeting
will then go into a lunch.

Right now we're in the final stages of preparing the leaders' documents
that will be issued as a result of the summit. As in previous summits,
they're going to address a whole series of issues. The two priorities that
the Prime Minister has identified, Africa and climate change, are the basis
of two of the summit texts that will be issued -- will likely be issued at
the end of the summit. We've been working very hard on them.

The broad objectives that we've had for the summit are to make it a success
with the Prime Minister, to engage on his priority issues on Africa and
climate change in a way that reflects the common ground that we have among
the G8 leaders on these issues, and also to advance two other important
goals that the President has had. One is to continue the work we did in
Sea Island, and using the G8 as a catalyst for democratic reform in the
Middle East, building on the Broader Middle East Initiative that the
President launched last year during our presidency of the G8, and then
finally to continue the work of the G8 in focusing on cooperation in
security matters, including non-proliferation, counter-terror and other
areas on the security agenda.

Q Are you expecting any progress in terms of China and making moves
towards a more flexible currency? Is that going to be a big topic of
conversation with China?

MR. SHIRZAD: I imagine the leaders will have a broad, kind of unscripted
discussion during the economics piece. In terms of how the discussions go
on that particular issue, it's obviously premature to tell. We'll see how
it comes out. But the broad topic of global economy is part of what
they'll talk about, and I imagine this issue will come up, as well.

Q Will the climate change text that comes out be just one reflecting all
eight views, or will it be like a minority report, or something reflecting
the specific U.S. differences?

MR. SHIRZAD: No, the G8 has always operated by consensus, and the texts
that they've issued have always been consensus documents. And we expect
that we'll have the same result here. I think what we've tried to do on
the climate issue is to take what has been an issue where there have been
differences, and to use the G8 as a way to find -- and define the common
ground, including a common set of actions in terms of how we want to move
forward on this issue. And so, obviously, there are countries that are
parties to Kyoto who have a certain perspective on the issue; we have our
own approach on it. But I'm hopeful that what you'll see by the end of the
summit is a consensus view reflected in a plan of action that will reflect
the robust set of initiatives that the countries of the G8 will undertake,
dealing with the interrelated challenges of climate change, energy
security, economic development and then dealing with the problems of
pollution.

Q So is that document finished yet, on climate change, or is that still
a work in progress?

MR. SHIRZAD: Well, the Sherpas had their negotiating session last weekend,
at which we made substantial progress. We will meet again tonight to
hopefully get final agreement on all the documents, including the climate
change documents. But I don't want to get into the details beyond that, in
terms of where the document actually stands.

Q How many of these documents are expected?

MR. SHIRZAD: You know, I don't have an exact count for you, but it's
something on the order of 10, or 10, I think.

MR. SHIRZAD: Well, what we expect the Iraq one will say is to express
support for the transitional government and for their efforts to move
forward on the constitution-drafting process, and the referendum and
elections. It also urges people -- countries to move forward on the debt
package and to support the economic development and reconstruction of Iraq.

Q Is there going to be much on the way of -- in the way of
liberalization of trade with African nations, as a topic of discussion?

MR. SHIRZAD: What you'll see is the Africa document reflects a broad set
of initiatives that the G8 are identifying as priority areas, that we're
going to work on and try to work cooperatively on, and where possible,
coordinate our actions. That includes economic -- issues promoting
economic development and economic growth. You'll see there will likely be
a trade-capacity building element where we try to build the capacity of the
Africans to participate in the global economy. Some of that picks up on
the trade initiative that the President announced during his speech at the
Hudson Institute. But in terms of actual market liberalization, that will
happen under the WTO framework. I think all of us in the G8 recognize that
that's the appropriate forum for negotiations.

Q Is there going to be any language relating to a timetable for phasing
out export subsidies for agriculture?

MR. SHIRZAD: Well, again, the texts are all being finalized, so I don't
want to get into what the particulars are. But what you'll find, I think
-- what I'm expecting you'll see is a very strong push on the part of the
eight in an effort to give momentum to the WTO negotiations, particularly
as you're going into the ministerial meeting in December in Hong Kong,
which will be, I think by all accounts seen as a crucial step to hopefully
closing out the negotiations by the end of 2006.

Q So a week ago the climate change issue was generating all these
reports that this was going to be a huge, divisive issue. And what you're
saying now is you think that there is a consensus that's been formed? I
wonder if you could sort of elaborate a little on where you are with --

MR. SHIRZAD: I'll answer that two ways. One thing that's clear is that
there's a significant common ground. I think what's been useful over the
last six months is we've worked through my process, as well as through our
experts talking, is that there is a substantial agreement that you have an
interrelated set of challenges dealing with economic development, meeting
the energy needs both of developed countries, but also of developing
countries; dealing with the problems of pollution, but also dealing with
the long-term challenge of climate change. And I think on that fundamental
level we've actually -- it's been a very constructive six-month period,
where the issues are being framed out and being seen in terms that I think
reflect a common view.

Then you separately have the process of actually putting texts together
that will be the basis of what the leaders issue. And that's a negotiating
process that has a dynamic of its own. I'm hopeful that we'll get there,
I'm optimistic. But on the more fundamental issue, maybe even the more
important issue of whether we've been able to identify an important common
ground on the issue of climate change, I think we've made a lot of
progress. We actually feel good about that.

Q And that is this action plan that you were talking about?

MR. SHIRZAD: Well, the action plan reflects the realization among all of
us that there are an interrelated set of challenges -- energy, security,
development and the rest -- and so -- and that perspective will be
reflected in what you'll see in the action plan.

Q Just one -- is the bilat with Blair, is that the only one that the
President has?

MR. SHIRZAD: It's the only scheduled bilat, yes.

Q Might there be some others?

MR. SHIRZAD: We don't expect at this point, no. None are scheduled.

Q Will there be a pull-aside with, say, China?

MR. SHIRZAD: None are scheduled at this point. There is nothing --

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll keep you updated if there's any changes. But, I
mean, part of this was just the time available. And, obviously, Prime
Minister Blair is the host country, and so that's why he's having a
bilateral with him.

Thanks, Faryar.

Anything else for me?

Q Scott, anything on the Olympics? Sorry to bother you on that.

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure. New York would have been a great site. And while
it's disappointing New York wasn't selected, we congratulate London. We
wish London great success as they move forward on hosting the Olympics in
2012.

Q What did the Prime Minister say about the issue of Guantanamo to the
President this morning?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think I can let the Prime Minister speak for
himself, but, I mean, he brought up the issue. It was something that he
wanted to express concern about, I think on behalf of his country. And
I'll let him speak more to that. But the President welcomed the
opportunity to talk about it. I think you essentially heard most of what
they discussed in the President's remarks. I mean, the President talked
about how these are dangerous individuals; they are at Guantanamo Bay for a
reason -- they were picked up on the battlefield. And we've returned a
number of those, some 200-plus, we've returned a number of those enemy
combatants to their country of origin. Some of -- a few of them have
actually been picked up again fighting us on the battlefield in the war on
terrorism.

And so the President's most solemn obligation is to protect the American
people, and the President recognizes that these are dangerous individuals
that have provided us useful information to prevent attacks from happening,
and they are individuals that have no regard for innocent human life. The
President talked about how we are working on a way forward, and how we deal
with these detainees.

The federal courts -- well, we are waiting for the federal courts to issue
a ruling. We have set up military commissions to try some of these
individuals. They would receive due process and have access to a lawyer
through that system. But right now we're waiting to hear back from the
federal court on what their ruling is for how we deal with the disposition
of some of these detainees. A number of these, I expect, we will continue
to look for ways to return them to their country of origin, if we have
assurances that those countries will look after them when they are
returned.

Q Stupid question. I don't know the name of the Sherpa who briefed us.

MR. McCLELLAN: Faryar Shirzad. He was actually part of -- a brief part of
yesterday's briefing on the plane.

Q Can you spell that?

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll get you the spelling. It should be in -- it's in
yesterday's transcript, as well.

Q Scott, in general, looking at all of the issues that are in play or on
the table at the G8, do you feel like the administration is getting due
credit for the efforts that they're making, for instance, on climate change
or AIDS in Africa?

MR. McCLELLAN: You should have asked -- probably should have asked Faryar
some of those questions. I think there's a lot of common ground, and
you're going to see that over the next couple of days at the G8 summit. We
all have a shared goal of helping save lives and improve lives in Africa.
And the United States is leading the way when it comes to doing that. We
are fulfilling our commitments. We have tripled aid under this President,
we have -- the President has proposed to double aid by 2010, we have made a
strong commitment to Africa, and we will continue to provide significant
resources to help the people of Africa.

But it's more than just providing aid. It's also expanding trade and
increasing opportunities for the people of Africa. It's making sure that
the aid is going to countries that are promoting good governance and
investing in their people, as the President talked about. The President
and the Prime Minister talked a good bit about the importance of good
governance when it comes to how we provide aid, because you want to make
sure that money is achieving results. And if it's going to corrupt
governments, it's being spent on other things than investing in the people
who need it.

And in terms of climate change, I think we all recognize that this is a
serious, long-term challenge that we must work together to address. And
we've been active. We've been leading the way when it comes to investing
in new technologies and putting resources into better understanding the
science behind climate change. The President is leading the way when it
comes to acting on initiatives to address -- to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. He's put forward the hydrogen car initiative, we're working on
carbon sequestration initiatives. We're partnering with other countries on
these efforts.

And at home in the United States, we are more than on track to meet our
commitment to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent come 2012. And
we will continue acting. And it's important that we work in partnership to
tackle these common challenges that we face, and that's what we're
committed to do. We're fulfilling our obligations when it comes to
supporting the people of Africa. We hope other countries will step up and
fulfill their obligations, as well.

Q But given some of the rhetoric that you hear, don't you feel like some
of the, well, European countries in particular, don't really fully either
understand or appreciate what the U.S. --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think it's important to look at the record and look
at the facts. And it's one of leadership and action, when it comes to
addressing these important priorities. Anything else?